Cleaning - for a challenge

 

The new year traditionally began with cleaning - some people still have time for a thorough cleaning of the house and even do it. We (my husband and me) spread the cleaning chores over the year which we think to be a better way of fitting them in our working life. Opinions may differ 😉

The January challenge of 'Goed Gezien - Goed Bekeken' is about that cleaning tradition. We were allowed to take the traditional approach or decide on another kind of cleaning like cleaning up the mind, getting fresh ideas etc.

Nothing really inspired me much, but the traditional cleaning round, combined with the call for more natural methods of doing that resulted in this work. These more natural methods include using soda and household vinegar instead of more aggressive chemicals and that gave me some ideas.

For this work I made a drawing of a bucket, washing cloth, sponge, bottle of household vinegar and a bag of soda using two graphite pencils. A floor was added, wallpaper and a plinth was indicated so the equipment had a room to stand in. I washed that drawing with watercolour, only one layer of paint so the pencil drawing is still visible.

After that had dried, I added the chemical formulas of acetic acid (vinegar), soda, bicarbonate of soda and of course water using a fine liner.

This is what I had planned so I am happy with the result. Using pencil marks first and washing in colour with watercolour was an experiment for me (the pencil marks could have been washed away too) but all worked out really well.

The information about the materials I have used, the size of this work and its availability can all be found in my Tumblr blog.